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I just bought a new car.  Great little car – Lexus 200ct hybrid.  Getting 47 mpgs!  But that’s not what this blog is about. Rather this blog is about what the salesman told me as we were wrapping up the paperwork.  He said that I will be sent an evaluation form to reflect on my “buying experience” and that anything less than 100% and he does not get his commision.  He asked me to please rate him at 100%.  Poor man.

I will score him 100% but my “buying experience” was in no way imperfect. There are many reasons why the process was less than perfect, and some were beyond his control but it is very hard to seperate the performance of the salesperson from the effects of the system he is working within.

But that isn’t the real sad part of this story.  The sad part of the story is how this quest for 100% rating from the customer is sealing the employer out from getting honest feedback for which it could improve.  Poor employer. 

We had a similar experience a few years ago at BMW.  The salesman aksed us for a perfect score.  But we did not have a perfect experience.  I gave an honest evaluation that reflected my truth.  Within the week I got a call from the salesman who confronted and challenged my evaluation.  He “called me out” and explained how it would effect his career!  And then, within the next week I got two calls from BMW apologizing and justifying for their service levels and how it would get corrected.  This response was way over the top.  It wasn’t that big of a deal.  But it got creepy the way they pursued it.

So this time, I will score him a perfect 100%.  I have better things to do than to help Lexus try to improve!  And I certainly don’t want to ruin the career of a man I have come to know and like.  I just might need him down the road if my MPG’s drop below 40!

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